Colleges adjust to meet new demands in health care

Greater access to health care will equal an increasing demand for medical workers, so local colleges are preparing to help answer the call.
Northeast Ohio's universities are anticipating a need for more nurses, primary care doctors, therapists, administrators and wellness coaches to help provide services to an additional 32 million Americans who will gain access to care through the health reform bill. As a result, many schools are tweaking coursework, inventing new programs and, in some cases, reviving majors that previously had lost their appeal.
“With more people being insured, there is going to be a need for direct health care, so we're planning alternatives to physicians,” said Alison Benders, vice president of academic affairs at Lake Erie College.
The Painesville school is considering resurrecting its physician assistant program that existed 20 years ago but had since lost interest, she said.
“The need for physician assistants diminished but it's on the rise again because they can provide care more cost effectively than physicians,” Dr. Benders added.
Other programs being considered by Lake Erie include supportive hospital personnel and management, case management and programs that would give hospital administrators exposure to the clinical side of the industry, Dr. Benders said.
“We're not trying to do something extravagant but (attend to the) everyday needs of the region,” Dr. Benders said.
Meanwhile, The Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy is working with hospitals and its university partners — Cleveland State, Youngstown State and Kent State universities and the University of Akron — to create programs that will boost the number of primary care doctors in Greater Cleveland, said Dr. Jay A. Gershen, president of NEOUCOM.
Beginning in the 2011-2012 school year, Cleveland State and NEOUCOM will launch a program in which they will jointly enroll up to 20 students who will spend time at both universities earning their medical degrees, he said. Those students will not have to pay tuition if they agree to work in primary care in the inner city, he said.
The two colleges have been in talks with local hospitals, businesses, individuals and philanthropic organizations to get sponsorships for those students, he said. Similar partnerships to provide more primary care physicians in Northeast Ohio's rural areas also are in the works, he said.

Nursing a need

Many local universities are ramping up their nursing programs in response to an anticipated need that existed even before health care reform. The United States has experienced a nursing shortage in recent years that is expected to deepen as more people come into the health care system.
Cleveland State University recently separated its nursing program from the College of Education and Human Services to grow the program into its own school of nursing, said Ronald Berkman, president of Cleveland State.
Under the new heading, the university will add students and instructors, as well as create more partnerships with local hospitals to train students, he said.
Notre Dame College launched its nursing program four years ago and will continue to enroll more students in the coming years, said Diane Jedlicka, chairwoman of nursing at Notre Dame.
In addition, Notre Dame is pondering how to better care for the elderly, she said. The federal government has a grant program to help students learn more about caring for the aging because 12% of the American population now is older than 65, she said.
The federal government has created grant programs for nursing colleges, nursing students and medical clinics, said N. Margaret Wineman, dean of the University of Akron's College of Nursing. Akron plans to apply for some of those funds to continue to expand its enrollment and programming in nursing, she said.
However, she currently cautions graduating nursing students that hiring has slowed down with the recession. Many retirement-age nurses have continued to work while waiting for retirement accounts to recover or for a spouse to find a job.
Part-time nurses also now are working full time, which has quelled the nursing shortage to an extent, she said. Still, it's a great time to become a nurse, she said.
“Once the economy corrects itself, the underlying need will still be there,” Dr. Wineman said.

New course treatment

Though the presence of Baldwin-Wallace College's major in health promotion and health education has existed for 30 years, its content has changed and it is about to be revamped again to conform to a health care system being shaped by reform, said June Romeo, chairwoman of the Division of Health and Physical Education.
Ideally, the program would teach students to help others manage chronic conditions and live overall healthier lives, which would fit in well with the health reform bill's push for wellness, she said.
“More people are going to have access to (care), and it could place significant burdens on the system,” Dr. Romeo said. “There is going to be a greater need for people in the community who have knowledge but are not necessarily medical providers.”
Kent State University is placing an emphasis on prevention, said Willie Oglesby III, assistant professor of health policy and management at Kent State. The university now is accepting the inaugural class of students for its new prevention science doctorate program, which will teach students to “design, implement and evaluate effective behavioral interventions for diverse populations,” he said.
Adults looking to continue their education could get some federal help to return to school full time, said Christine Wynd, dean of Ursuline College's Breen School of Nursing.
A new grant program would give students a stipend of $22,000 a year to work on their master's degree full time, in exchange for a promise to work in primary care, she said. Ursuline has applied for those grants and she said the school should know by September if it will receive them.
Ultimately, health reform will significantly affect the higher education and health care industries, she said.
“Health reform is going to really change the way we do business in health care,” Dr. Wynd said.